FBA - Writer's Guidelines

The editorial board is pleased to offer these guidelines for potential contributors to The Federal Lawyer, the only magazine dedicated solely to the interests of practitioners of federal law, whether they be in government service or private practice.

The Federal Lawyer relies solely on the contributions of members of the Federal Bar Association and the federal legal community as a whole. The editorial board is always looking for new material and encourages suggestions for topics on which articles should be published. Because The Federal Lawyer has no writers on staff and editors serve in voluntary capacities only, the editorial board seeks recommendations for potential authors, as well.

You have a number of choices regarding what type of piece you would like to submit: a full-length feature article, a column in a variety of subject areas, a commentary piece on an emerging legal trend, or a focus on addressing a specific area of concern within the association or the legal field in general. The specifications for each of these are outlined in this brochure. The Federal Lawyer strives for diverse coverage of the federal legal profession and your contribution in any of these areas is encouraged to maintain this diversity.

Should you have any questions that are not answered in this brochure, please feel free to contact Managing Editor Stacy King at sking@fedbar.org or (571) 481-9100.

Feature Articles

The editors of The Federal Lawyer are looking for original articles that would appeal to a diverse audience, which encompasses attorneys in private practice who specialize in areas of federal law, career service attorneys practicing within the federal government, judges who preside in the federal circuit and district courts, and lay people and law students who may have substantial interest in the practice of federal law. Rather than law-review-type treatments of narrowly defined subject areas, the editorial board seeks articles that meet one or more of the following criteria. (1) Does the article engage the reader's interest in a concise yet descriptive manner? (2) Does the article provide practical information that would be applicable in the day-to-day practice of federal law? (3) Does the article address a subject of timely importance to the reader? (4) Does the subject contribute to the education, competence, ethical practice, and/or public responsibility of federal practitioners?

Writing Style

To ensure diversity, The Federal Lawyer seeks to publish a wide variety of styles in its feature articles, including how-to's, interviews, edited speeches or roundtable transcripts, opinion pieces, legal analyses, and first-person accounts. Please avoid using "legalese" and writing styles used in legal briefs and law review articles. A more easily readable, journalistic style is preferred.

Manuscript Specifications

Feature articles should be in word processing format, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The manuscript should be submitted as an e-mail attachment or on disk in Word or WordPerfect with a cover letter indicating the writers name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. All publication decisions are made by a volunteer editorial board. Manuscripts will be forwarded to a member of the board for review; please allow six to eight weeks for a response. Manuscripts that are under simultaneous review by other publications will generally not be considered for publication.

Length

Following the specifications above, the preferred length for feature articles is 4,000 to 7,000 words (17 to 25 pages), including endnotes; manuscripts should not exceed 30 pages. If an article is accepted for publication, but exceeds the specified length, the writer will be asked to shorten it to conform to space limitations.

Editing

All material is subject to editing by members of the editorial board and the publications staff. Material will be edited to conform to the magazine's editorial style, which generally follows the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. The editors and production staff of The Federal Lawyer reserve the right to alter or rewrite headlines, insert or delete subheads as needed, and/or edit text to conform to space limitations.

Article Summary

Once a feature article has been accepted for publication, authors are asked to provide a short summary paragraph that will introduce the article, enticing the reader to read on. It may appear on the title page of the article when printed and/or on the table of contents. This paragraph should be short, punchy, and to the point. Please avoid constructions such as "This article examines"and "The following article discusses."

Columns, Commentaries, Focus Ons, and Book Reviews

If you would like to become a regular contributor to the magazine, you may become a columnist. The average length of a one-page column is approximately 675 words, or about three double-spaced pages. Columns may published on an irregular basis, depending on what your schedule allows. If you have an opinion you would like to express that cannot be encompassed easily in a letter to the editor, then you may want to submit a commentary, which may be longer, averaging 1,000 to 1,500 words. Focus Ons should be less opinionated than a commentary and address a specific area of the law. The length should be from 2,000 to 3,000 words. Book reviews are generally related to law, American history, and current issues. Contact Book Review Editor Henry Cohen at hcohen@crs.loc.gov for more information.

Publication Schedule

Generally, feature articles should be submitted at least three to four months prior to the desired issue date. Although no guarantee can be made with regard to a specific issue, articles will generally be published in the order in which they are accepted; articles addressing time-sensitive subjects will be given precedence. The cover story for each issue will be selected by the editorial board from the pool of articles ready for publication at that time. Authors will be notified once a firm publication date has been selected, and authors of feature articles will have the opportunity to review galley proofs prior to publication. Galleys are generally sent as an Adobe Acrobat pdf file via e-mail about one month prior to the expected publication issue date, and authors have one week to review them and submit corrections. No substantive text changes—such as adding numerous paragraphs or rewriting entire sections—should be made at the galley stage. Upon publication, feature authors will receive 10 complimentary copies of the magazine; commentary and focus on authors, book reviewers, and other special contributors will receive five complimentary copies; and regular columnists receive two complimentary copies. All original photos and art work submitted will be returned with copies of the magazine.

Endnotes

Citations to cases and other references should be in endnote form and should follow the style prescribed in the latest version of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. There should be no more than 20 endnotes in any one feature article and those should be limited to specific authorities; "string cites" (repetitive uses of "id") and discursive notes are strongly discouraged. Where appropriate, citations should be moved into the text to avoid an overabundance of endnotes. Cites to one source in the same paragraph should be given at the end of the paragraph rather than at the end of every sentence. A column or commentary piece should have no more than five endnotes. The author is responsible for ensuring the completeness and accuracy of all references and citations. The editors reserve to right to delete unnecessary citations.

Photo and Biographical Statement

All contributors should provide a two- to three-sentence biographical statement stating name, occupation, city, and any other information that may be germane to their qualifications to write the article or column; listing your FBA chapter affiliation, if applicable, is also encouraged. Please note that this statement may be shortened. A recent photo suitable for publication (color or black-and-white) should also be submitted prior to production. (See "Art work/Graphic Guidelines" below for mechanical specifics.)

Copyright

When a feature article is accepted for publication, the writer will receive a copyright release form to complete and return. Authors can choose to assign copyright to the Federal Bar Association or to retain their own copyright, ensuring that all reprint requests will be forwarded to them directly. Author-held copyrights will be duly noted when the article is published. Other contributors may also choose to copyright their material; simply indicate in your biographical statement that you wish to hold your own copyright, e.g., © 2004 by John Smith.

Art Work/Graphic Guidelines

The production staff for The Federal Lawyer will obtain appropriate art work or photographs, if any, to illustrate material accepted for publication. Writers are encouraged to submit any relevant photos, graphs, or charts that they feel may add visual impact to the presentation of their written pieces. Please note that all graphics/photos should be submitted in hardcopy or in electronic format at a resolution of 300 dpi (eps, tiff, jpeg, etc.). Graphics and photos embedded in word processing or other documents are not acceptable. If you have any questions regarding the submission of art work and graphics, please contact the managing editor.

Submission of Material

Authors are asked to submit materials via e-mail as an attachment file to tfl@fedbar.org. Any number of changes may be required to conform the original material to accepted style and specifications. Preferred formats are Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, although other word processing formats are acceptable. If you have any questions regarding acceptable file types, please contact the managing editor prior to submission.

Revised 7/2008
The Federal Lawyer
Stacy King: Managing Editor, sking@fedbar.org
Federal Bar Association
1220 North Fillmore Street, Suite 444, Arlington, VA 22201
(571) 481-9100, Fax (571) 481-9101, www.fedbar.org